UAE oils up ambitions

photo source: cpv.org.vn

Bui Ha Nam, assistant to the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MoFA) West Asian and African Affairs Department, said the group wanted to get involved in big infrastructure projects like ports, roads, airports and hospitals.

It is also keen on projects related to electricity, telecommunications, and oil and gas exploration and exploitation. The projects could be implemented in the form of joint ventures, public-private partnership or wholly-foreign invested enterprises.

His Highness Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, chairman of the Emirates Gate Industry Group, last week worked for the first time with the MoFA, ministries of planning and investment, and transport, and Vietnam’s state-owned groups Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and PetroVietnam to look at business opportunities.

“The delegation wants to see whether Vietnam can give them such feasible projects and how local partners can cooperate with them first,” Nam said, adding the capital might be “huge”.

“I think they were very serious about doing business in Vietnam. Other investors often hired foreign consultants to explore investment opportunities first before they themselves set foot in Vietnam to discuss with local authorities. But what this group did was different, the leaders themselves and their sector-related consultants came to Vietnam together to discover opportunities via talks with ministries and state-owned groups,” he said.

Nam noted the Emirates Gate Industry Group was in sound financial health, because it belonged to a royal family. “The group’s representatives would return to Vietnam as soon as they have carefully reviewed their visit to Vietnam.”

In similar developments, early this month a UAE delegation made up of representatives from big corporations and the UAE’s Abu Dhabi Economic Department also came to Vietnam in search of investment opportunities.

The companies included Al Dhafra Int’l Lubricants Oil Factory (gasoline and lubricants), Al Khazna Chemical Fertilisers (fertilizers and chemicals), Abu Dhabi Fertiliser Industries Company and Emirates Vision Environmental Services.

As further proof of the burgeoning relationship between Vietnam and the Emirates, late last year Vietnam Government Office chief Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited the UAE and the infrastructure developer Tamouth Group.

Tamouth Group then said it wanted to develop large-scale infrastructure projects in northern Quang Ninh province including a Halong-Mong Cai expressway, industrial parks, an airport and a deep water port.

The group also expressed an interest in building roads and urban areas in southern Binh Thuan province and Ho Chi Minh City.

On this occasion, Tamouth Group clinched some specific project construction contracts with Vietnamese partners.

According to Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment, the South East Asia country is currently home to just three UAE projects. They had a combined registered investment capital of $128 million.